Talk:Arya's Family
__TOC__ House Dröttning A lot of people have assumed that there is a such a thing as "House Drottning" this phrase is incorrect and has never been used by Christopher Paoloini himself, I felt that my edit would help clarify things. There are many more examples of real Old Norse titles, a good place to start would be to look up Jarl (a cognate of Earl), Konungr, drottin/dryhten or thjodann/thuidan/theoden. Paolini Fan 08:21, 22 March 2008 (UTC)Paolini Fan :"House Drottning" is a misnomer, Drottning means 'Queen' in Old Norse, which Christopher Paolini's Ancient Language borrows heavily from. Drottning in the broader sense may refer to a female sovereign, the spouse of the ruler or simply mean mistress.(See the link below) The word has survived in modern usage in Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic and Danish where it means Queen. :The word drottning in Old Norse shares etymological roots with drottin which means lord, ruler, chief.(See the link below) Drottin is now out of usage in modern descendants of Old Norse as it was replaced by Konungr which particularly means king. For more details see the Wikipedia article on drottin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drightin or look up the relevant etymologies on the internet. :In Christopher Paolini's works it is Islanzadí's title. There is a clear distinction between the two titles "Drottning" and "Drottningu", these terms are never used interchangeably and neither is this a case of typographical error. This can be seen from a number of ocassions in the book Eldest: :1.pg.170, line 5 : the sentinel Edurna addresses her as Arya Drottningu. :2.pg.172, line 3 : again as Arya Drottningu. :3.pg.206, line 18 : refered to as Arya Drottningu by Lifaen. :4.pg.230, line 20 : Elf lord Dathedr addresses her as Arya Drottningu. :5.pg.226, line 16 : Arya addresses her formally as Islanzadí Drottning. :6.pg.227, line 25 : Eragon greets her as Islanzadí Drottning. :7.pg.270, line 12 : Oromis addresses her as Islanzadí Drottning. :In each case Arya is Drottningu while Islanzadí is Drottning. :In addition the structure of the invented Ancient Language needs to be considered. The grammar dictates that the principal noun precedes the adjective or the helping noun. The case is exactly opposite in English! (Hence creating the misleading impression that Drottning is the surname) :eg: Vinr Alfakyn not Alfakyn Vinr (Vinr = Friend; Alfakyn = Elves/Elfkind viz literal transliteration is Friend Elf but actual translation is Elf Friend) :similarly, Du Fells Nangoroth (Fells = Mountains(Old Norse); Nangoroth = Blasted) :Du Fryn Skulblaka (Fryn = War; Skulblaka = Dragon) :Agaeti Blodhren (Agaeti = Celebration (Old Norse); Blodhren = Blood-Oath (Blodh = blood - Old Norse)) :Du Vollr Eldrvarya (Vollr = Plains/Fields/Grounds (Old Norse); Eldrvarya = Burning (Eldr = fire - Old Norse) :Eragon states that the Du Vrangr Gata are ignorant as correctly they should be named Du Gata Vrangr where Gata = Path and Vrangr = Wandering (again see Old Norse) When he pays his tribute to the dead king Hrothgar he says "Stydja unin mor'ranr Hrothgar Konungr" not Konungr Hrothgar! :There are many more examples in the books Eldest and Eragon. :Therefore the correct usage is Islanzadí Drottning not Drottning Islandzadi, likewise Arya Drottningu not Drottningu Arya. :It would also seem absurd to call Evandar, a male elf, Evandar Drottning (which is a femimine word). If the situation arises he would probably be called formally as Evandar Konungr. :The word drottningu is a bit more obscure but it definitely means princess in Old Norse. (See link below) :The system of giving family or last names is very different in the fictional Alagaësia from the real English-speaking world: :1. Dwarves introduce themselves as so and so's son. eg: Orik Thrifk's son, Thorv Brokk's son. :2. Elves customarily introduce themselves as hailing from such and such House. eg: Lifaen of House Rilvenar, Vanir of House Haldthin, Bellaen of House Miolandra. :3. Some humans have been referred to by adding the suffix sson to their father's name. eg: Roran Garrowsson, Murtagh Morzansson. This practice is followed in present day in Nordic countries, where the corresponding suffix for a woman is sdottir after her father's name. :Lastly I would point to the last piece of evidence from Eldest, Bellaen's note to Eragon: (See pg. 241, 242) He introduces himself as from House Miolandra. However he wrote that Niduen was from Islanzadí's House. Wouldn't it be more simpler and straight-forward to write Niduen of House Drottning - this would be incorrect due to above mentioned reasons. It would be incorrect as well to write Niduen Drottning or Niduen Drottningu as she isn't the sovereign of the elves, the heir incumbent and may not even be royalty - therefore the title wouldn't apply in her case. :This edit has been written with the intention of conveying that Drottning and Drottningu are used as titles in Christopher Paolini's fiction not as the surname or name of the House. '''The author would have his own reasons for not disclosing the name of Arya's house or may simply not have foreseen such a misconception. :For further reference please see the '''Zoega Old Icelandic dictionary and Cleasby Vigfusson Old Icelandic dictionary both available for free viewing at the Northvegr Foundation's website: http://www.northvegr.org :There are many free to download Old Norse - English dictionaries available online. :Links: :http://www.northvegr.org/zoega/096.php :http://www.northvegr.org/vigfusson/107.php :Please don't delete this edit, the discussion seems relevant and it would enable readers to better appreciate the Ancient Language. Also a lot of effort went into writing and researching and providing useful links for this. At some point or another the confusion over these two words has arisen in various places online. esp in forums, but no one has provided any plausible explanation before this. :—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Paolini Fan (Talk ▪ ▪ Logs). Discussion Rename to Arya's family # I would assert that Paolini Fan presented a compelling and well reasoned argument for renaming the page as described. I am in favor of renaming the page. NJZimmermann 04:21, 24 March 2008 (UTC) Leave it as House Dröttning # ... Discussion closed!